Polypad Digital Manipulatives

I love to create my own digital manipulatives. I’ve created balance scales, algebra tiles, and rtd problem scenarios just to name a few. I know not everyone wants to take the time to create these, that’s why I share mine.

There are also some online resources where you don’t have to create your own. Polypad by Mathigon is a great resource. They continue to add to their selection, but I’m partial to the geometry and statistics portions. I like that it’s simple to use and creates nice, professional looking graphics.

I have used this to create graphs for activities, test questions, and notes for my students. I haven’t had students use this for statistics because we have a dedicated (though very clunky) website with all the features they need for the course but if you teach a statistics section in your curriculum, this has some nice features.

I LOVE this site when introducing geometric solids. You can take a 3D figure and it will unfold into the net with the slide of a button. It’s a great way to see the visual without cutting out tons of shapes (although, I like doing that too LOL).

I have an activity where students can measure angles with a protractor. Polypad also has a protractor manipulative. It is easier to move around than the activity I have created.

There is a student dashboard so you can assign content. I haven’t used it so I can’t comment on ease of use but I plan to use it soon with the protractor activity. Then I can compare their protractor activity with the one I created.

Mathigon also has interactive textbooks for grades 6-8. 9-10, and 11-12 available under the courses tab. Some of the grade 9-10 and most of 11-12 topics are still under construction, but that just means they have more great things to offer soon.

The textbook content opens up new sections once a student has completed the section before. It has speech arrows that will read the content to students, pop-out boxes to read more about a person or object, and built-in activities.

This is page one of the Geometry series.

And this is one of the interactive activities that teaches concepts as a student completes the tasks.

I wish it followed our district curriculum better because I would love to use this feature.

I hope you find this site useful. I don’t utilize all of the features but it is very robust. I love the features I do use and plan to use more this year.